Page 95 - SAMENA Trends - October 2019

WHOLESALE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Court Awards Big Telcos, Cablecos Temporary Stay over Wholesale Rates

Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal has and Telecommunications Commission and Rogers asked the court to overrule the
issued a temporary stay of a regulatory (CRTC) ordered Bell Canada (including Bell decision, resulting in the new wholesale
decision that seeks to force the country’s MTS), Cogeco, Eastlink, Rogers, SaskTel, rates being suspended whilst the case is
largest fixed ISPs to offer smaller rivals Shaw, Telus and Videotron to reduce examined.
lower wholesale access rates, reports CBC. wholesale tariffs, backdated to 2016. A
In August the Canadian Radio-television group of six telcos/cablecos including Bell

Orange Signs Global Roaming Agreement with Rakuten Mobile

The new company is claimed to the world’s week the Japanese e-commerce company, because customers are out of range,
first end-to-end, cloud-native mobile Rakuten, which is the parent company although some phones cannot connect
operator and began trialing its network in of the new mobile operator, has had to the network from indoor locations
major Japanese cities earlier this month. complaints from almost 20% of the 4,500 although they are within the coverage
Orange’s wholesale arm, International customers taking part in the soft launch area. The company said it plans to have
Carriers will provide LTE roaming and who have received SIM cards but cannot 3,432 base stations installed by March:
professional services to Rakuten Mobile, connect to the network. Rakuten Mobile a government-run website shows about
Japan’s newest, fourth mobile network said many of the connection failures are 1,700 in place now.
operator. Orange is to provide Rakuten
Mobile’s subscribers with international
data roaming services around the world.
The French operator group has mobile
operations in 27 countries and will use
a roaming solution to connect Rakuten
directly with carriers in others countries via
IPX network connection. The agreement
also includes support from Orange
professional services. Earlier this month,
Rakuten Mobile launched a trial of its
service. During the trial period, the service
is available to only 5,000 people in Tokyo
(Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric from Pexels),
Osaka, Nagoya and Kobe. It will remain
free of charge until the end of March 2020.
According to Nikkei Asian Review, last

95 OCTOBER 2019